A Good Day

Daniel had tossed and turned all night and was greatly annoyed when the alarm clock rang out its morning greeting. He jumped into the shower to be greeted with a blast of arctic water. The stupid water heater was acting up again. Daniel made an effort to restrain himself and cursed under his breath, rather than aloud.

After showering and getting dressed, Daniel ducked his head outside to grab the morning paper. The dumb dog from next door had already found the paper already. The dog had pooped on the paper again. It frustrated Daniel to no end when people were unable to pick up after their dogs.

Daniel was going to have to eat breakfast without the morning paper. He ducked his head inside the fridge to find the milk. It was nowhere to be found. He was certain that there had been a nearly full gallon in the refrigerator yesterday morning. Daniel glanced around the kitchen and spied the milk in the table. It had been left out overnight. He dumped the milk down the drain and resigned himself to a breakfast of Pepsi and M&Ms at work.

Daniel jumped in the car and stopped at a convenience store to grab a cup of coffee to serve as a pick-me-up until he had some breakfast in his stomach. He entered the highway within minutes was stuck in a traffic gridlock – the effect of an accident several miles ahead. Twenty minutes later, traffic had finally returned to normal. Daniel hit the accelerator and was quickly up to 70 mph. He was very happy to put the frustration of the traffic jam behind him.

Daniel was five miles away from work when he felt an odd sensation – moments before the tire blew out. His coffee went flying out of his hand and spilled all over his pants. Daniel cursed – aloud this time – as he pulled the car over to the side of the road. He popped the trunk, pulled out the jack, and began to change the tire.

The monkeys at the service station had tightened the lug nuts insanely tight, and Daniel had difficulty getting them loose. He jacked up the car with the wimpy little scissors jack from the car. He wasn’t sure that he trusted the jack to hold the weight of the car. Ten minutes later, Daniel had managed to change the tire, and was back on the highway.

Daniel had barely stepped into the office when he ran into his boss.

“Johnson!” Growled his boss. “You’re late. We start worked here at 7, not 7:30.”

“I know, boss,” Daniel replied. “I ran into a traffic jam, and then had a flat tire.”

“Well, stop yapping your gums and get to your desk! There’s work that needs to be done!”

Daniel went straight to his desk, not wanting to risk the wrath of the boss by detouring for candy and caffeine.

Daniel ran into trouble at every step during the day. Despite his best efforts, none of the numbers were jiving, and the boss needed the data for a report the next day. The report preparation that typically took an hour ending up consuming the entire day. Daniel had hoped to spend his lunch hour getting a new tire put on the car, but instead was working at his desk. The M&Ms and Pepsi that he intended to eat for breakfast became his lunch instead.

The day mercifully came to and end, and Daniel jumped into the car for the ride home. Traffic was bumper to bumper, and it took an hour to cover the thirty miles. As neared home, he remembered that it was his night to pick up Alyssa, and he veered onto the exit at the last moment.

Daniel entered the two year old room at the day car center, and Alyssa saw him from across the room.

“Daddy!” she screamed. She raced across the room and latched onto his leg. “I love you, daddy!”

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